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Alausa explained that upon assuming office, he was presented with a proposal involving about 100,000 Nigerian students travelling to Morocco to study courses such as mass communication and journalism, which are already offered in Nigerian institutions.
KaNo—
The Federal Government has announced a major policy shift in its education sector, ending the funding of foreign scholarships under its bilateral education agreements and redirecting resources towards strengthening Nigeria’s domestic tertiary institutions.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, disclosed this while explaining the rationale behind the government’s decision to review its overseas scholarship arrangements.
He said the move was driven by the need to eliminate unnecessary expenditure and ensure that limited public resources are deployed more efficiently to support local capacity development.
According to the minister, the government can no longer justify spending scarce funds to send Nigerian students abroad to study courses that are already widely available in the country’s universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Alausa explained that upon assuming office, he was presented with a proposal involving about 100,000 Nigerian students travelling to Morocco to study courses such as mass communication and journalism, which are already offered in Nigerian institutions.
Beneficiaries Spend A Year Learning French
He expressed concern that beyond duplicating existing programmes, the students would have been required to spend their first year learning French before commencing their studies, a requirement he described as both unnecessary and inefficient.
“Number one, we have all those courses in Nigeria. And yet, number two, they were going to spend the first year learning French before they started the programme,” the minister said.
He added that the financial implications of such arrangements were difficult to defend, especially when the same resources could support a far larger number of students locally.
“In the position of a few million to support this in Nigeria, we support thousands of them,” he said, noting that the government must prioritise value for money in all its spending decisions.
Alausa stated that after reviewing the programme, the government concluded that continuing the bilateral education agreement in its previous form would amount to an inefficient use of public funds.
“So the Bilateral Education Agreement was not making sense, again, to us in government. It was a way to waste government funds,” he said, adding that the current administration remains committed to prudent financial management.
FG Halts Bilateral Education Agreement
The decision builds on an earlier move by the Federal Government to discontinue new government-funded awards under the Bilateral Education Agreement scholarship scheme.
However, the minister clarified that students already benefiting from the programme would continue to receive support until they complete their studies.
Foreign governments willing to sponsor Nigerian students can still offer such opportunities without financial contributions from the Nigerian government, Alausa said, adding that the country would be more selective in entering such agreements going forward.
The minister noted that the original justification for sending large numbers of Nigerian students abroad decades ago was based on limited local capacity at the time. However, he said the situation has changed significantly over the past 20 years.
“When those programmes were set up 20 years ago, they were meant to get students to go to government colleges where we did not have capacity. But in the last 20 years, we’ve built a number of capacities in the tertiary institutions ,universities, polytechnics and colleges,” he said.
The policy shift comes as part of broader reforms being implemented by the Federal Ministry of Education under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
These reforms are aimed at repositioning Nigeria’s education system to better serve national development priorities.
Key areas of focus include strengthening domestic tertiary institutions, expanding technical and vocational education and training, improving digital learning infrastructure, and promoting research and innovation.
The government has also intensified efforts to modernise curricula and align educational outcomes with the needs of the economy, particularly in areas that support industrialisation and job creation.
Alausa stressed that education spending must produce measurable outcomes, especially in light of the country’s competing development needs and fiscal constraints.
He said the government is determined to ensure that every naira invested in the sector delivers tangible benefits.
The minister cited instances where scholarship beneficiaries were expected to study abroad but were instead enrolled in Nigerian universities, describing such situations as evidence of systemic inefficiencies that must be addressed.
“So we have to start with Nigerians,” he said, underscoring the need to prioritise domestic solutions.
As part of efforts to support students within the country, the Federal Government has strengthened local funding mechanisms, including scholarships, bursaries and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, which provides financial assistance to students in tertiary institutions.
FG Promoting Research And Innovation
Alausa explained that upon assuming office, he was presented with a proposal involving about 100,000 Nigerian students travelling to Morocco to study courses such as mass communication and journalism, which are already offered in Nigerian institutions.
In addition, the government is promoting research and innovation as critical drivers of economic growth.
Alausa recently inaugurated the Tertiary Institution National Gallery Prize Committee, which is tasked with recognising outstanding academic research with potential for commercialisation and industrial application.
“We want undergraduate researchers to see a clear pathway from academic research to industrial application, enterprise, innovation, and national development,” he said.
“The most successful nations of the 21st century will not necessarily be those endowed with greater natural resources. They will be those that can systematically transform knowledge into solutions, research and intellectual capital into economic and industrial value,” he said.
Analysts say the policy marks a significant turning point in Nigeria’s education strategy, with greater emphasis on self-reliance and domestic capacity building.
While the decision may reduce opportunities for government-sponsored overseas education, it is expected to channel more resources into improving the quality and competitiveness of Nigerian institutions.
As the reforms unfold, Nigerians will be watching closely to see whether increased investment in local education can deliver the desired improvements in infrastructure, teaching quality and research output.
For now, the Federal Government maintains that the shift is necessary to ensure that public funds are used efficiently while laying the foundation for a more sustainable and impactful education system..
